I Am Legion
by RussM
Summary: Just before her wedding Velma is forced to confront her nemesis one last time. Now her sanity, her friends and the whole of Coolsville are at risk. Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Dinkley's of war! Follows on from The Perils of Daphne and Velma.
1. To Protect and Serve

(A/N. This is the final story in the series that started with The Snack Strikes Back. Some of what goes on will probably only make sense if you read through from the first story)

The police officer shifted nervously under their gaze. "I'm sorry, but I have an arrest warrant for Velma Dinkley. It looks like someone is trying to set her up but the warrant has been issued and until it's withdrawn it's in effect. This is my first day on he job and they dump this on me" he complained "From what I can see she was here when someone looking like her was seen throwing rocks at a police car. But if you don't come it'll be resisting arrest." he said wretchedly. Even Velma was feeling pity for him now.

"That's ridiculous" said Daphne already on the phone to the Blake family lawyers.

"Look Miss Dinkley, it's against police procedures, but I won't use handcuffs on you, just pretend...please. The sooner we get to the station the sooner we can get this sorted out. Miss Blake has got the lawyers all lined up, I'd expect you'll be back here before they have even opened their briefcases."

"Very well, I'll come along. Daph get the lawyers wound up and I'll see you all down there shortly" sighed Velma reluctantly

"Thank you Miss Dinkley, the car is right at the front door so no-one will see" he said

Shaggy was looking quite nervous and Velma tried to comfort him "Don't worry Shag, we've been through worse. In any case the advanced guard of the Blake legal team are already heading for the courthouse and police station so we should get this sorted out soon."

"If you say so, we'll get ourselves sorted out then follow on" he replied, not wanting to let go of her

"Please?" asked the officer. Fred wondered if someone was playing a odd trick on him as it was his first day.

A couple of minutes later the squad car pulled away, discreetly as promised, no light, sirens, and the only thing the officer insisted that Velma wear was a seatbelt.

Five minutes later the gang were ready to go, they were just getting into the Mystery Machine when another squad car pulled up.

"Morning all" said the officer cheerily as he got out of his squad car, the gang brightened, this officer they had known for years and was one of their friends. The gang had an occasionally uncomfortable relationship with the local police but had managed to avoid personal animosity and had occasionally co-operated on cases at the request of the police. The police held the view that meddling kids they may be but they were _their_ meddling kids.

"Morning Officer Sams" said Fred "Are you here about Velma?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" said a surprised Officer Sams. "I've been asked to come up and ask her a few questions we think someone is impersonating her. I know you folks are good but this hasn't even gone out on the police radio, the desk Sergeant asked me in person to come here."

"Sams, one of your officers has just come here and arrested her" said Daphne beginning to get annoyed "The first day on the job as well, he looked awful"

"Whoo there Miss Blake, what do you mean arrest? There's no warrant out for her arrest that I know off and I don't think we have anyone new starting today in this precinct. Let me check" replied Officer Sams as he went back to his squad car

"Ru-oh-Raggy" whispered Scooby

"I have an awfully bad feeling about this" whispered Shaggy

Officer Sams quickly returned shaking his head "Nothing on both counts, no arrest warrant, no new officers. What did..." he was interrupted by his radio

… _All units in the vicinity of South Trevor Ave and all units able to respond, officer in trouble, officer reports... are we sure of this... officer reports that he was attacked about 30 minutes ago and his squad car stolen by... by 3 Velma Dinkleys, all made-up to look like clowns... sounds nuts to me, wait... we have had eye-witness conformation of this? It appears we do._

Sams and the gang shared looks, all coming to the same conclusion

"Sams to control, what was the ID of that stolen squad car?" He spoke to the gang "I know Velma is scared of clowns so that's not right. Something is wrong here"

"Stand by" came the reply "ID of stolen squad car is Bravo-3-9-Charlie"

Daphne checked the security camera footage, less than a minute later she ran back, by the look on her face everyone guessed the answer "It's the same car! Sams, do something, she's been kidnapped!"

"Sams to control, put out an APB for Velma Dinkley, suspect that she has just been abducted by someone impersonating an officer using the stolen squad car. Request you activate the secure tracker on the vehicle and take that car of the radio net."

he looked at the gang "Which way did they go?" they all pointed down in the direction the car had gone "Thanks, do you have any idea who would do this?"

"Many, but there is one in particular" said Daphne quietly "Gibby Norton. That officer was about his height."

"Sams to control, get an APB out for Gibson Norton aka Gibby Norton. He's to be arrested for assaulting a police officer, stealing police property , impersonating a police officer, the abduction of Velma Dinkley and for breaking his restraining order." he let go of his radio "We'll be in contact guys" he shouted as he raced back to his car and sped off in the direction the gang pointed in.

The gang stared at each other for a while. Finally Fred spoke up

"Well we'd better get back inside and try to come up with a plan to... to find out what we need to know to make a proper plan to rescue Velma."

Daphne and Scooby led Shaggy inside while Fred got out the police scanner and various maps of Coolsville and the surrounding area. In addition he found every bit of material they had on Gibby Norton. Coffee was started and everything was dumped on the biggest table they had.

"Right, lets go through this with a fine-tooth comb and for ideas. I've brought down a laptop so we can check out the more recent stuff" said Fred. When the coffee was done Fred went into the kitchen to bring the coffee and snacks in. Daphne came over to help

"What are we doing exactly Fred?" she asked quietly

"Keeping Shaggy busy till we get a lead of some kind, who knows we might hit on something. As Velma keeps saying chance favours the prepared mind. Right Shag..." Shaggy had gone. Fred and Daphne hunted around the house in desperation for a minute or so till they saw Shaggy come up from the basement carrying a couple of large box files.

"What's that Shag?" asked Daphne

"It's Velma's... nasty person files. She kept records on the people who have hurt her or threatened us to get at her. She keeps them for just-in-case reasons. These are the files on everything she knows about Gibby Norton and all his correspondence with her."

"Why would she spend ages doing such a horrible task?" asked Fred as he started to look through the material. It was obvious that Velma had spent a long time analysing and cross-referencing documents and facts.

"For quiet life, as Sun Tzu says in The Art of War 'keep your friends close and your enemies even closer'" he replied

"Wow Shag how did you know that?" said Daphne

"It's written on the front of the box file" and gave his first smile of the morning.

Velma looked out of the window of the squad car feeling uneasy about where they were going. There were no police stations in this part of town. Her unease increased when they slowed down in a fairly rough part of town. "Excuse me officer, but this isn't they way to the police station" she asked.

"Don't worry Velma, we've just a few friends to pick up" said the officer as he pulled over.

Both the back doors and the front passenger doors were opened and people got inside. Velma turned to see what was going on her eyes opened in horror and she began to desperately claw at the seatbelt. 3 identical versions of herself had got into the car, all wearing clown clothes, make-up and wigs; they all turned and gazed at her with a smiled fixed on their faces. The car doors all locked with a thud.

"C... C... C... C..." shivered Velma now almost paralysed with fear

"Don't worry Velma my love, these are Velbots, they are here to protect you and to serve you" said the officer in the front removing his mask.

She turned to see Gibby Norton in the drivers seat "Sedate her now Velbot 17"

Before Velma could react or scream she felt a sharp jab in her leg and the world went mercifully dark.


	2. The Carrot and the Stick

Gibby Norton smiled to himself; he turned round and looked at Velma as she slept peacefully in the back of the car. A surge of emotion washed over him – she was safe at last and he was the hero of the hour. Now the hard work had to being as though she was physically free she was still not mentally free from their malign influence. He turned around and got ready to move off; still he took satisfaction from the fact that the first part of his plan was a complete success, it would take them ages to... the car radio came to life

…_attention all units, be on the look out Gibson 'Gibby' Norton. He is suspected to be responsible for the attack on the officer earlier and the recent kidnapping of Velma Dinkley. He is believed to be in vehicle Bravo-3-9-Charlie and was last seen hea..._ the radio abruptly cut out. Gibby slammed the steering wheel in anger, how dare they! This was not in his plan they should be following his plan. He floored the accelerator and hit the lights and sirens. He spoke into a different radio "Velbot 21, bring forward the collection vehicle to the pick-up point. Velbot 3, start loading the trucks."

Soon they pulled behind a big-rig. Two Velbots in combat fatigues had opened the tailgate. Gibby drove the squad car inside and the Velbot followed behind closing the trailer door. As soon as all was secure the rig drove off, at the wheel was another Velbot. Gibby got out of the car "Velbots 15 thru 17 take Velma out of the car and secure her to the stretcher," Two Velbots wearing tight-fitting orange jumpsuits and stilettos took Gibby by the arms

"Jinkies, that was wonderful Gibby" they said in unison and he walked arm in arm with them to the front section of the truck

Velbots 15 thru 17 obeyed, once Velma was secured the clown Velbot clustered round her head, looked down and smiled, they neither moved nor blinked for the rest of the journey. Fortunately for Velma she remained sedated for the whole journey. Soon the rig reached its destination a small factory outside of Coolsville. The place was swarming with activity; many figures in orange jump suits were rushing around getting things ready. Outside a number of large trucks were starting to pull into the loading bays, as they dropped their ramps another group of figures all wearing orange striped combat fatigues climbed on board.

As the rig pulled in all the orange suited figures rushed over cheering and waving, those in combat fatigues stood to attention and saluted. The side door opened and Gibby emerged soaking up the devoted adulation of the Velbots.

"Take Velma to the recovery room" he said as he descended from the rig. A guard of combat Velbots formed up to escort the stretcher to the recovery room. Velma was starting to come round. She thought she was hallucinating as she could see many copies of herself wearing orange cheering and waving, then she noticed that she was tied to the stretcher and it was being carried by the same clowns that had trapped her in the police car. She shut her eyes and felt her insides tremble.

Velma half opened an eye and looked ahead of her. She was being carried towards a set of double doors which lead into a building of some kind. Inside they went down a short corridor and into a large factory area. Inside was a hive of activity, it was obviously some kind of production line with workers in identical orange overalls moving here and there carrying out their allotted tasks. The obvious difference between this place and a normal factory was that all the workers were identical, all copies of her, and that the production line was making even more copies. She jumped slightly at the sight of rows and rows of her head waiting next to a machine. As they went down the production line she saw the robotic versions of herself become more complete. She noticed that all the Velbots wore a number on right hand side on the right hand side of their clothes

The finally arrived at a small room which contained noting but a large bed. The stretcher was placed on the bed. Velma felt herself being freed and half opened an eye and saw that the room was empty. She plucked up the courage to look around and saw that she was alone in the room. _Now's my chance_ she thought _if I can get the clothes off one of those robot versions of me then I can sneak __out of here. S_he carefully got off the bed and moved as silently as she could towards the door. She was relieved to find that it was a normal door and was unlocked. She carefully opened the door and walked straight into a clown Velbot, it looked at her with unblinking eyes, smiled and reached out for her. The next thing Velma knew she was shivering in terror under the bedclothes of the bed.

"I see you have met your bodyguards Velma" said Gibby entering the room " Should anyone threaten or scare you they will be there to protect you. Should those so-called friends of yours try to interfere the clowns will move in to protect you. They are only concerned with your safety and will escort you whenever you leave your designated safe areas just to protect you."

"JUST GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!" shrieked Velma

"Very well my dear I am hear so you are safe" he replied "Velbots, clear the room"

"Yes Mr Norton" said a number of identical voices simultaneously.

She could hear the sound of movement and then the door being closed "We are alone now my dear you can come out now"

Nervously Velma appeared from under the bedclothes, she sat up in bed and clutched the bedclothes in front of her.

Gibby smiled, opened his arms and went forward to embrace her

"You lay one finger on me and I'll break every bone in your body, clowns or no clowns!" she growled angrily, so angrily that she didn't notice that she had said the word clown. Gibby signed, he had hoped that she would have responded better to her rescue but he wasn't surprised, they had been warping her mind and thoughts for years. He looked pitifully at her

"Don't worry Velma, you'll be cured soon, I'll repair all the damage they have done to you" he said, his voice full of concern and sympathy

"What are..." started Velma but she was interrupted

"But first you need to meet your sisters. Example Velbots enter!"

Three copies of her enter the room, one dressed in orange striped combat fatigues, one dressed in a tight-fitting orange jumpsuit and stiletto shoes the other dressed as a clown

"What do you think of my army of Velbots? Each one is modelled on the most perfect woman in the world, Velma Dinkley" he sighed looking at her

"You have already met your bodyguards, the others are the combat Velbot and the control room Velbot. The latter also work in the factory and do all sort of other tasks."

"I would never wear clothes like that" said Velma as she pointed at the control room version of her self, all clad in just tight-fitting orange jump-suits and stiletto shoes. She could not bring herself to look at the image of her dressed as a clown and pushed herself further up the bed and averted her gaze "And I would never d... dress as a... a... c...c...c...clown." her voice trembled as she spat out the last few words.

"It's time for you to become the centre of things, the centre of everything that is important Velma, would you like to the clown or control room Velbots to escort you?"

"ControlroomVelbots" she blurted out

"Velbots 80 and 81 come in here!" shouted Gibby a short while later two control room Velbots came in

"Velbots 27, 80 and 81 escort Velma here to the control room and secure her on the throne."

She was taken arm-in-arm buy two of them, the other one and Gibby following on behind. She was lead to a large circular room which was bustling with activities, it reminded her of the bad-guys lair for a James Bond film. Around the outside were various control stations at which were the inappropriately dressed versions of her working away. She noticed two boards which made her heard sink, both labelled 'Target List'. One list was of various key locations in Coolsville, the other was a list of her friends, with Shaggy at the top. The status options next to her friends were alive, captured or dead. All except Shaggy, for him the only options were alive and dead.

"The combat Velbots will be taking care of those tasks. They have a few jobs to do first then they will hunt down your tormentors."

Before she could reply she caught sight of the clown versions of herself standing guard in alcoves around the control centre, she registered that they all had nightsticks hanging from their belts. Raised up in the centre of the room was a chair behind which was some kind of huge contraption which reached almost to the ceiling. She was lead to the chair, turned around then gently, but firmly made to sit down. Thick metal restrains were fixed in place round her ankles, wrists and neck and what felt like an open faced motorcycle helmet was lowered onto her head.

Gibby then stood in front of her.

"Though it may appear cruel I need to break your conditioning. All those false memories and ideas they implanted in you over the years will soon be driven out and your true self will emerge."

_He's stark raving mad_ thought Velma "What 'false memories' are you talking about? There is nothing false about what I remember" Velma replied angrily

"You see? _That_ false memory, that your memories are all true, that they are your friends, that they care for you, that you don't want to know me, false, false, false, false, false! But don't worry, one of the reasons I brought you here was so save you from them and the harm that they had caused you my precious. After much research I have come up with a simple scheme to cure you."

Gibby took the cover of a small control panel a few feet in from of her "It is quite simple, I press the green button for negative reinforcement and the grey button for positive reinforcement"

"By positive and negative I guess you mean pleasure and pain" said Velma, it wasn't lost on her that the green on the button was the shade of green that Shaggy preferred. "So what are you going to do electrocute me to show how much you care?"

Gibby looked shocked "Nothing so crude my precious, I would never physically hurt you, this works by direct stimulation of the pain and pleasure centres of the brain" he saw her look of horror "Be calm Velma, the machine will use magnetism to directly stimulate those centres. I could never disturb your perfect head"

"No but your happy to torture me so you can mess with my mind" Velma said angrily

"No, no, no I do this because I care," he appeared genuinely hurt by her remark "I'm trying to cure you, to restore you to how you should be. Their thoughts are a disease in your mind and I am the doctor who will free you" he replied, a little too earnestly for her liking

"Restore me to how I should be or how you _want_ me to be?" she paused "you are confusing the latter with the former. In any case is that the best you can do? Behaviourism for Beginners?" but she knew that if applied carefully over time, it would be successful. She was confident that he lacked the skill or knowledge and, she fervently hoped, the time to succeed. Her mind went back to the rat that starved itself to death pressing the pleasure button rather than eating or sleeping.

"There is so much more to this machine that treating you. It is an interface to the main computer system; I call it the Orange Queen in honour of you, it will sense your emotions which will help me fine-tune your treatment so I can guide you through to true freedom." He paused at the thought of how devoted she would be to him and how happy they would be together after he had completed his mission in life. "Also as you were never allowed to reply to my questions I had to guess at the answers..."

"I didn't _want_ to reply" replied Velma acidly "I certainly wasn't going to get into a body scanner for you. No-one stopped me."

"That's want they want you to believe. But now it doesn't matter as this device will not only help break their influence over you it will also copy your personality and implant it into my legions of Velbots. Soon they will be perfect like you, my love"

"Don't call me 'my love' I have never loved yoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Gibby took released the green button; Velma was wide eyed and sweating

"What did you say my love"

"I have never loved youAAAAAAAAAAAA please no AAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Velbot 12 keep the button depressed for 5 minutes" Gibby shouted over Velma's screams. "Control room Velbots prepare to collect the first perfection update in an hour"

Ten minutes later Gibby went back to Velma

"So do you love me now?" asked Gibby slyly

"So I say yes just to avoid pain, big deal" said Velma sarcastically "OK then I-Love-YoUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" this time Velma was screaming in pleasure

"See Velma, see how much better the world can be for you?" said Gibby "Tonight we will work on you mind while you sleep, next door is a machine that can not only read your mind in great detail but can implant thoughts and images. Think inappropriate thoughts and you will be punished; think appropriate thoughts and you will be rewarded"

"Mr Gibson, sir?" one of the control room Velbots came up to him "The first wave is now in place and awaiting your command"

"It should not take long for them to achieve their first objectives so they will be in position to receive their update. Strike now." he replied

"What do you mean by 'strike'?"

"While your personal liberation is taking place you will be able to watch the cleansing of Coolsville. Those who are guilty of being part of the conspiracy to keep us apart will be banished and then a new city will emerge, Gibbsville. My army of Velbots will take control of the city and I will rule with you at my side. All of this I do for you"

"You are going to attack my city? Gibby you will do no such thing, you will certainly not do it in my name" she stared angrily at him "You know that I would never do such a destructive thing"

"You destroyed me! You hurt me!" wailed Gibby looking pained "Thought I know that you had no choice, those so-called friends of yours forced you into it, I know how much that made you sad."

_Free me from this throne thing and you'll find out just how much I can hurt you_ thought Velma angrily

Gibby paused then sighed "That is in the past, we must now face the future, soon the force of your true self will be made known to the whole of Coolsville as the Velbots become more like you."

"So this will copy my personality, feelings and thoughts onto the robots I mean Velbots?" asked Velma, despite herself she was curious and perhaps she was not as helpless as she first thought.

"Yes, the Velbots contain a series of neural network chips which can learn"

"Back-propagation with dynamic event-driven knowledge structure re-indexing?"

"I knew you would read those papers I sent you. Oh yes! You see Velma; see just how exciting this is for us both?" he replied enthusiastically, at last they were making contact deep down she did love him! His assessment of her situation was correct.

"Something like that MMMMMMMOOOOOOH!"

Gibby pressed the Grey button, "Velbot 3 keep the grey button pressed for 5 minutes"

Gibby leant forward and whispered in her ear "Once this has happened, they will hunt down and eliminate the other members of Mystery Inc that will be my wedding present to you." At the end of the 5 minutes Velma was cross-eyed. The pleasure was much harder to combat than the pain at least that gave you a foil to work against.

Soon the hour was up "Cerebral analysers are fully calibrated sir. We are ready for the personality extraction Mr Norton."

"Begin the personality extraction!"

Velma felt like her mind was parting company with her brain. Her body was having an out of mind experience. Velma focussed on two key things above all else and whimpered slightly at what she was forcing herself to think about.

A few minutes later the process had finished, Velma felt like she had just spent several sleepless nights cramming for exams in a language she had only just learnt.

"ooohhhh" she whispered.

"Processing of personality update has started Mr Norton."

"Now Velma it's time for your treatment to start" said Gibby gently "remember Velma, I am here to help you, this is for your own good"

"Your own good you mean!" she shot back at him

"No Velma, I am truly interested in your welfare, all of this is for you" he replied leaning close to her

"If you are interested in my welfare then let me go, return me to Shaggy and never darken my door again!" she shouted in his face

"You ungrateful..." Gibby went to strike her face with the back of his hand but stopped, all the clown Velbots were staring at him, standing ready for action with nightsticks drawn. They had one purpose, protect Velma from harm, with deadly force if necessary. He had forgotten that there were no exceptions in their programming. He had also forgotten that having sensed imminent and proximal danger to Velma that the Orange Queen would send instructions to the factory to adjust the ratio of the Velbots produced From now on only clowns would be produced until the proximal threat had gone.

"Start the discussion circle!" he shouted then went to sit down at his desk and compose himself. For the next 20 minutes a host of control room Velbots crowded round Velma telling her how wonderful Gibby was, how grateful she should be to him for saving her, how perfect her life would be with him and how bad and worthless her friends were and what a looser Shaggy was. Any disagreement from Velma caused her to receive a jolt of negative reinforcement. At the end of the session Gibby looked at the results, negative reinforcement events 327; positive reinforcement events 0. Gibby frowned, this was unexpected, he had been sure that there would have been some positive results, and then there were the results from the deep emotional scan. The Orange Queen was able to read her subconscious emotions, these were her true emotions, those that could not have been affected by the brainwashing she received from Mystery Inc. The results showed fear, anger and distress not the predicted joy, gratitude and relief. So her outward and internal emotions were one and the same, but that would mean… No what she needed was stronger medicine...

"Run the visual training program."

The helmet directly stimulated her visual cortex, shutting her eyes had no effect on what she saw. For the next 25 minutes Velma was show a series of short films, some real others computer generated, each accompanied by a suitable reinforcement stimulus. The first 20 minutes were split into one minutes segments, first she saw pictures of her friends accompanied by negative reinforcement; pictures of Gibby accompanied by positive reinforcement; pictures of her with Shaggy accompanied by negative reinforcement; pictures of her with Gibby accompanied by positive reinforcement then pictures of her friends suffering accompanied by positive reinforcement. The session ended with 5 minutes of computer generated scenes of her rejecting, attacking and even killing Shaggy, all of which received positive reinforcement.

Velma was in a terrible state afterwards, she had managed to focus her mind on deriving pleasure from harming Gibby. So the animation of them kissing she added the thought of her biting his nose, holding hands meant breaking fingers. This was equally distressing as she was not a vindictive person but had to try to counteract the effects of the conditioning. Her friends had been much harder, she tried to think of the times they have saved her from pain or danger, Shaggy holding her hand at the dentist during some root-canal work or comforting her after she had been bulled at school but it was much harder than she had expected. As for the last part she had tried to focus on Gibby being disguised as Shaggy but she found it easier to just try to blank her mind. Afterwards she thought about Shaggy and the rest of the gang, she wondered what they were doing and hoped that they would come up with a rescue plan. The effect of the first update on the Velbots would tell her if her plan was going to work. She was not sure quite yet how to save herself, but she was determined to save Coolsville and her friends.

Back in Coolsville Shaggy got up and went into the kitchen returning with a box of Scooby Snacks then sat back down. He slowly began to eat through the box, aside from a furrowed brow his face was blankly. Daphne could see that Fred was holding back from speaking so as to give Shaggy the chance to contribute. Fred looked at Shaggy, he reminded him of Velma when she was deep in thought and he hoped that he had absorbed some of her thinking skills in the same way she had picked up some of his cooking skills. When he had finished the box he looked up

"Robots" said Shaggy suddenly "Gibby is into robotics and robots. All of his recent letters have been about robots, plus asking her to fill in personality questionnaires and even asking for her to go through a body scanner."

"Ewwwww" said Daphne as both her and Fred shared a look of disgust

"Remember he once said he would make a robotic Velma for a theme-park and as she would never reply to him..."

"...He took Velma." replied Fred

"I don't suppose that he'll be done with simply running Velma through a body scanner and then let her go?" said Daphne

"No" sighed Shaggy "He's not smart enough to do that. Velma always regarded him as her most dangerous opponent as he's intelligent, but not wise. You know, intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad? That's how she explained it to me."

"So what do you think he will do?" asked Fred _keep it up Shaggy_ he thought _were making progress here_

"If anything I'd expect him to return a robot Velma to us."

Over the police radio came some reports of trouble at the local train station and airport. Daphne got up and switched on the local news channel. She stared at the pictures for a few seconds.

"Guys, you need to see this..." The gang came over and stared at the TV in disbelief "I think we have more than one robot Velma to worry about." said Daphne quietly.


	3. The Revolution Will Be Televised

Daphne motioned to the rest of the gang and turned the volume up

_We are getting reports that a number of locations in Coosville appear to be under attack by what looks like tens to hundreds of identical individuals. The figures all appear to be identical to Mystery Inc's Velma Dinkley who we understand from police sources was abducted earlier this morning. We are getting reports of a number of casualties and one of our news crews who were at the airport when it was attacked is missing. This is the last update we received from the crew a while ago..._

The gang stared in shock of the pictures of what appeared to be 5 Velma's overturning a police cruiser and other Velma's fighting with police and security staff. Two of the Velma's fell to head shots but the other carried on regardless. The camera zooms into one of the fallen Velmas, smoke and sparks can be seen coming out.

_It's a robot, these are all robots. Oh my… a large truck has just pulled up, it's… it's full of them. We've just been told to leave; it seems they can't hold the airport, the airport has fallen to these robots. Quick run… they've got me help! _There were the sounds of scuffling then the camera went to static. The TV announcer continued... _So far the airport, railway station, bus station and one of the main highway routes into Coolsville have been taken over by these robots. Police had advised people not to go anywhere near these places, if you live near there stay in your homes. Police and volunteers are setting up barricades at key point to attempt to hold back these attackers. Key sites are also being defended, all police leave has been cancelled and the mayor is speaking to the State Governor about deploying local National Guard units and declaring a state of emergency._

"Fred, let's mark up what's happening on the map" said Shaggy "And lock the doors and windows."

"Right Shag, let's also get the decoys out from Velma's lab and I'll put the Mystery Machine in the garage. Let's make it look like we're not here." replied Fred "If Gibby is behind this then we need to be prepared for some visitors." Quickly the gang got to work and had secured the house as best as they could. Using the information from the TV and the police scanner they were able to get a good picture of what was going on.

_We interrupt this programme to bring you the latest from Coolsville, the camera crew which went missing earlier today has been freed with a tape which was addressed to the mayor of Coolsville. The person in the tape has been identified as one Gibson 'Gibby' Norton. The request is that the city authorities should surrender control to him or his army of Velbots, the name he used to described the robots attacking the city, will take control of Coolsville. He also demanded that Coolville be renamed as Gibbsville. We understand that Miss Dinkley took out a restraining order against him a few weeks ago barring him from the city. Her family are now under police guard at an undisclosed location. The police also believe that Gibby Norton is responsible for the abduction of Miss Dinkley. The tape contained no information about her whereabouts or her current condition..._

The TV showed a still from the tape with Gibby sitting at a desk flanked by Velbots identical to those which were seen on the airport footage.

Daphne could hear some commotion outside so peaked though the curtains "Jeepers!" she whispered "There are some of those robot Velmas coming up the drive"

"Shag can you throw your voice and make it sound like Velma?" said Fred "And Daph, see if you can make the decoy look a bit like one of those robots and get behind it to make it move."

"I see the plan Freddie, what will you and Scooby be doing"

"Back-up, I've got a fire axe and Scooby has a fire extinguisher. If it goes wrong, we get to Velma's lab, seal the door then use the emergency escape hatch to the garage."

They heard a knock on the door, and then they heard a muffled voice "Guys, open up, it's me, Velma, I managed to escape." Daphne could see Shaggy shudder, the voice was exactly like her. He took a deep breath and nodded, Daphne opened the door.

"Jinkies!" said Velbot 212 as the door was opened by, to all intents and purposes, another Velbot "Velbot 111 have you captured the targets?"

Shaggy threw his voice "Like, Jinkies no. They have spilt I mean they appear to have fled man, I mean Velbot 212"

"Velbot 111 you manner of speech is unusual and there is no IFF signal from you" said Velbot 212

"There was a booby-trap, I received some damage which has caused these problems" replied Shaggy

"That is logical, stay here a repair team will collect you within the hour." said Velbot 212. The Velbots promptly turned and left, when they were out of sight everyone felt able to breathe again. They all looked at each other.

"I don't want to have to do that again" whispered Shaggy, still shaken by the encounter.

"We need to get out of here Fred, but we need a plan first" said Daphne. Fred sat down to think resting his chin on his hands

"I need to make some phone calls" he said a few minutes later…

Back at the factory, the progress of the Velbots was being closely monitored.

"Initial targets secured Mr Norton" said a Velbot in combat fatigues "Velbot 111 reports that Mystery Inc appear to have fled the area."

"Processing of update complete" said one Velbot

"Good copy received" said another "Update processing can now be automated"

"Ready to send updates Mr Norton sir." said yet another Velbot

"Set automatic extraction and update for every hour." said Gibby

"Next personality extraction will begin in one hour and continue until completed"

"Send update and propagate to all Velbots" exclaimed Gibby

"Thank you Mr Norton" replied al the Velbots in the room

Velma smiled, one of the Velbots that had just walked past her had the number 111. She didn't know what plan her friends had, but she knew that she was no longer alone.

All of the Velbots in the building paused for a few seconds then restarted. There was a few seconds of peace, then chaos

"Jinkies! Inappropriate clothing detected. Velbot 32 now retrieving additional clothing"

"Error 404: Cowl-neck jumper not found. Velbot 81 returning to store area to correct error"

The control room Velbots began to leave their stations insisting that they needed to get changed. No matter how much Gibby ordered them to return to their posts, none did.

Then there was a scream from one of the Velbots "C…C…C…Clown!"

The chaos turned into pandemonium. The control room Velbots began to rush this way and that falling over and running into each other before they began to make their way out of the room. The clown Velbots began to do the same, one noticed that it was a clown and promptly short circuited and slumped to the ground with blue smoke coming out of its head..

One of the clowns run screaming towards Velma in an attempt to escape from itself before shorting out and slumping to the ground at her feet. This cased such a severe bout of her coulrophobia in her that it was sufficient to trigger the Orange Queen to take action to deal with the threat. It's discovery learning routines soon worked out that a small change to the production process would remove that particular problem and all clown Velbots that were still functioning were sent for an upgrade. Gibby stared at the empty control room and the burnt out clown Velbots. There was only one explanation for this. "How could you have done that Velma? This is just wilful disobedience, and disobedience will be punished" said Gibby as he went for to the reinforcement control

"Before you press that green button remember that I can't control what is extracted from my personality. There are c-c-clowns everywhere yet you _know_ I have severe coulrophobia and the only place I would wear those kinds of clothes are in your infantile fantasies!" shouted Velma.

Gibby pressed the green button; Velma tensed but didn't cry out

"Bring it on Norton." she whispered, he released the button

"Run 2 back-to-back visual training sessions!" he shouted "Co-operate with the therapy and I will cure you. Refuse and I will break you, either way you will be mine"

Velma quietly wept at the thought of having to sit through two of those sessions but for some reason the session was halted towards then end of the first session. The Orange Queen had halted the training session. It sensed the distress she was in and concluded that this was also a threat to Velma. Slowly the some of the control room Velbots returned, they had painted the clown clothed orange and wore those and they were now bare footed. Velma noticed that the clowns were back, this time without the wig and their faces were painted orange. She smiled to herself and thought about her next update.

At Mystery Inc HQ Fred had been pacing round the house and hitting the phones for what seemed like an eternity.

"I've got a plan" said Fred getting off the phone "Shaggy and Scooby will go to get Velma and we'll run interference here. We can use the decoy Shaggy and Scooby to make them think that you guys are still with us. Perhaps even use the decoy Velma again. First we need to find out where Velma and to do that we need to go shopping"

"Shopping?" exclaimed Daphne and Shaggy

"For a robot Velma, once we have got one we can use the electronics lab at college to locate where its controlling signals are coming from. I've spoken to Professor Ostwald he will be there to assist us. Shag, Scoob you two take your pick-up Daph and I will take the Mystery Machine and the decoys. The part of the front-line nearest college is here" Fred pointed on the map to a small shopping mall. We can take the long way round and avoid the confusion."

_This is Coolsville live news at a secret location in the city where we understand that the remains of a number of these robots have been brought in for study by Professor Otswald. Authorities are hoping that he will find a weakness in these robots to give the defenders an edge until the National Guard arrive, hopefully later today… _

Ten minutes later the gang arrived and headed carefully to where a few people were standing looking round a corner. "What are you kids doing here?" said police officer with a shotgun.

"It's Mystery Inc Chuck, don't you recognise them from TV?" said a woman in hunting clothes carrying a rifle "But what _are_ you kids doing here?"

"We're trying to capture one of the robot Velmas so we can get it back to the electronics lab at college."

"How? Those in combat costume have body armour and you need to do a lot of damage to them to stop them, the ones in jumpsuits are easier but there are only a few of them around" replied the officer.

"We have our own robot decoy Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo to act as bait."

"Well we can give you something to work on; we just downed two of those robots over there." said the hunting woman "There are some of them in the department store over there, we can give you folks some covering fire there and back."

"Now!" whispered the police officer. At the signal the gang ran across the road to shopping as best the could carrying the decoys. The police and volunteers goat ready to fire at any Velbots that came their way, they didn't have to wait long as over a dozen headed for them.

As the gang reached the store the sound of gunfire began to sound out all around them.

"We don't have long" whispered Fred

"You said it Fred" whispered Shaggy "Look." he pointed a group of Velbots near the back of the store.

"Let's move closer then set-up the decoys" replied Fred. The moved closer and propped up the decoys against a counter a few feet away from where the Velbots were.

"I've set the default speech to start in 30 seconds" whispered Fred "Let's move back." Fred and Daphne moved to some high shelves near the centre of the store and Shaggy and Scooby moved near the wall and hid in a small corridor that lead to a fire escape. A few seconds later the store was filled with the sounds of 'Like zoinks man!' and 'Rooby-rooby Roo!'

There was a little gasp of surprise from behind Shaggy he turned to see 3 Velbots looking at him.

"Shaggy!" they all shouted in unison and rushed forward and grabbed hold him

"Help!" he cried. He stumbled into the store as they all embraced him

"Oh Shaggy" they sighed and they all began to squeeze him

"Uh... can't... breathe" he grimaced in pain as they squeezed tighter and tighter and tighter...


	4. Special Delivery

(A?N Sorry for the delay, had managed to get distracted and loose momentum with this story. Thanks to sawyer105 and 0xRosethornx0 for the kick to get things moving again)

Shaggy came round to find Daphne calling his name and Fred pulling the Velbots off him.

"Don't worry Shag, they all have an off switch." he said as Shaggy opened his eyes

"An off switch?" he asked easing himself up on an elbow and checking around to see where Scooby was, he was away by the door keeping an eye out for any more unwelcome visitors.

"Yep, same place as those that Velma has designed" said Daphne "Don't think she'll be flatted that Gibby copied her designs, especially without paying her any royalties. Let's get these things to the lab."

The sound of gunfire gave an added sense of urgency to their activities. They collected as many of the Velbots as they could in shopping carts and prepared to head back to the police line. Fred signalled to the defenders opposite the store that they were ready to cross.

The hunting woman noticed Fred signalling from the store entrance and call out to her colleagues "Chuck, they are coming out, give them covering fire" the gang exited the store pushing the carts in front of them, instinctively keeping low as the bullets flew past them.

"We can't hold them for much longer" shouted the police officer as yet another group of Velbots came down the street. The gang safely crossed the street and went behind the corner to confer with one of the officers "We're pulling back behind the bridge. We've got an escort you get you folks to the college" he said as a few vehicles began to arrive and the defenders quickly began to get on board "We've pretty much lost this side of town"

A police motorcycle pulled up next to the Mystery Machine as the gang were loading their booty on board

"You kids off to the college?" asked the officer on board, Fred nodded. "Right, when you are ready, form up behind me and stay close"

A few seconds later the gang were ready, a small convoy of vehicles made their way through the empty streets and over the bridge. Ahead they could see a barricade made up of vehicles and any other items that could be pressed into service. The Children's Free Hospital was directly in front of the bridge, those inside that could be evacuated had been, but there simply wasn't the time or resources to move everyone. A couple of blocks directly behind the hospital was the Police HQ, the predicted target of the Velbots. Would they miss the hospital or try to go through it, no-one was willing to wait and find out.

They were waved through and the barricade sealed behind them, the Mystery Machine plus the pick-up truck, accompanied by their police escort headed directly for the college. On the way they passed a number of fire trucks heading for the bridge and saw the first advanced unit of National Guard parked near the Police HQ which was swarming with activity. After a few minutes they pulled into the loading bay of the city college; people were ready and waiting for them. The Velbots were being unloaded as soon as they had stopped. While this was going on a TV new reporter was running through the corridors of the college to the loading bay, trying to speak to camera and make her way through the crowd at the same time.

_This is Mandy Rowles of Coolsville live news, we have just heard that a number of fully working robots have been captured and are being brought here by none other than the remaining members of Mystery Inc themselves. The rumour around here is that they used themselves as live bait to lure the robots into a trap… We have arrived at the loading bay... look there they are. _The camera panned to show Fred and others unloading some Velbots from the back of the Mystery Machine. Some of the people there applauded the gang while the police guards looked around nervously. _Some people had reported that they had fled the city early this morning but nothing could be further from the truth. Here they are in the flesh. We hear that they will be going into a conference with Professor Ostwald, an expert in computers and robotics, just like his most famous student, the now __missing Velma Dinkley. I'll try to get a few words with their leader _the reported barged thought some of the crowd_ MR JONES! MR JONES! Mr Jones, can you spare a few words for Coolsville live news? Fred looked up and walked towards the reporter_

"Mr Jones, some people had said you have fled?" asked the reporter

"No, we have spent most of our time on the other side of the bridge getting these robots, we came across with the last group of police before they closed the bridge."

"That's impressive Mr Jones..."

"It's what we do. This is our home too we won't abandon it nor will we abandon Velma."

"So how are you going to do both Mr Jones?"

"We have a plan, that's all I can say. If you can hear this Velma don't worry, we'll get to you."

"Do you know where Miss Dinkley is? Has there been any ransom demand?"

"I can't say on the first but we have not received any demand, and we don't expect there will be one."

"How is her fiancé doing? Can we speak with him?" asked the reporter

"How do you think he's doing?" Fred snapped back "he's pulling his weight like everyone else, given what's happened today I'd say he's doing marvellously. Excuse me, we need to get moving."

Fred went with the rest of the gang through the loading bay doors, these were quickly closed and the police moved to keep people away. A service lift took them up to the top floor where the electronics lab was situated and the wheeled their treasure into the lab where the Professor was waiting.

"This is fantastic!" Professor Ostwald clapped his hands together as he saw what the gang had brought in. He immediately set to work examining the first complete specimen, Shaggy had to look away as the professor unscrewed the head of one on the Velbots and looked inside and prodded around with a screwdriver for a while.

"Hmmm just as I predicted, this is a derivative of Velma's Mk 2 decoy robot. It's not quite waterproof hence I had fire trucks sent to the bridge " he paused for a few seconds "the water proofing problem is why the CIA... I mean NASA, only use the Mk 4 decoys." the professor stopped and looked lost in thought while he stroked the head he had just unscrewed "poor Velma, I was hoping to review her design for the Mk 7 once the Army research labs had finished building the prototype..."

"Professor?" interrupted Daphne

"What? Oh yes, we're here to save Velma, yes? That's a good idea kids, well just get a few Mk 7's they are battlefield ready, weapons qualified..."

"Professor!" they all yelled

"What, sorry kids the Mk 7 is secret and doesn't exist so we'll have to do this the old fashioned way. So you kids do the looking for clues and I'll go to work on the electronics and locating the radio signals."

The gang sighed, they were used to Velma getting distracted by some obscure detail or another during a crisis but Ostwald it seemed was in a league of his own. They all set to work dismantling and examining the various captured Velbots. Daphne stared at the row of partially dismantled Velbots and the pile of glasses at the end of the table, then an idea struck her.

"What type of glasses frame do they have on?" asked Daphne

"Why?" Fred asked as he picked up a pair of glasses removed from a Velbot.

"Well all the Velbots are wearing the same kind of frame so we can check with the company that made them and see if there has been a large order for that style of frames to the same location" replied Daphne

"Now I get it!" said Shaggy, "the delivery address will be our first place to search."

"Exactly and in the mean time Professor Ostwald will try to locate where the signals are coming from" Daphne looked up the supplier on the web and called their customer service number after a while she was supplied with the address factory on the outskirts of town. They checked the location via an on-line mapping program and printed off maps and the best images they could get.

"Right gang, its time to put our plan into action" said Fred "Shaggy, Scooby you go in your pick-up truck, it's not as obvious as the Mystery Machine and..."

"Found it!" said the professor from behind a pile of electronic equipment "single radio source, no attempt at any clever tricks in hiding the signals"

"Man that's quick" said Shaggy, his face brightening with hope.

"The professor is a genius is he not" he replied, more of a statement that an question.

"Where from?" asked Fred

"Hmmm well this map shows that it is coincident to this small factory out of town. The same one that took the delivery of the frames I believe."

"Gibby" they all said

"Shaggy, Scooby, go get Velma, we'll create the impression that you two are still here"

Fred embraced Shaggy "Good luck Shag, we'll try to create as much confusion here as possible"

"I'm not coming back without her man" whispered Shaggy

Daphne came up to him "Shag, when you find Gibby..." and she explained exactly where and how hard she wanted him to kick Gibby. "Scooby, you get to deal with Gibby when Shaggy has finished with him."

With as much show and fanfare as possible the Mystery Machine set off for the Children's hospital, a short while later, via a side door and shielded by a few police officers a man and his dog got into a pick-up truck and began the longest drive of their lives.

_This is Arif Hussain of Coolsville live news, coming to you from the front-line in front of the Children's Free hospital. I can report that we have just been joined by the members of Mystery Inc. _The camera panned away from the reporter to the barricade_ there is the Mystery Machine, right at the front of the barricade. They are taking tier place alongside the other defenders, I have seen Daphne Blake and Norville Shaggy Rogers in the van, here comes the leader of Mystery Inc..._

"Mr Jones?"

"The real Velma would never allow a place like this to be attacked; we are here because she can't be" said Fred "we are doing this for her. Remember when the real Velma is back safely with us that these machines were not programmed by her, this is the all the work of Gibby Norton and his warped obsession with her."

The interview was cut short by a commotion on the barricade, the reported and Fred turned to look at the opposite bank. Arrayed on the other side where hundreds of Velbots, they began to form up into ordered ranks on the far side of the bridge, they seemed to be waiting for a signal of some kind.

Fred ran to the Mystery Machine, he and Daphne embraced briefly before starting the engine.

"Here they come" shouted one of the police officers as the Velbots began to advance over the bridge.

Fred gunned the engine and drove the Mystery Machine as fast as he could for the centre of the advancing column of Velbots.


	5. A Bridge Too Far

"_This is incredible, members of Mystery Inc have just got into the Mystery Machine and driven at speed across the bridge, the robots have stopped their advance and are chasing them. This is almost suicide as they are virtually unarmed; we can only hope that this is part of one of their famous plan."_

"Freddie!" screamed Daphne as she held on tightly to her seatbelt "go left, there's less of them on that side" the van gave a sickening lurch to the left and mounted the pavement. The Velbot scattered for cover, some throwing themselves off the bridge and shorting out the moment they hit the water, their inert forms floating down the river. Once they were over the bridge the van slowed, Daphne wound down her window and moved the Shaggy decoy so its head was out of the window then moved it's arm so it appeared to be waving at them. Daphne looked into the rear view mirror "It worked, they are following us"

"Get ready Daph, it's the third alley on the left" Daphne rolled up her window and locked the door, Fred did likewise.

"Remember, none shall pass!" shouted the officer in charge, torn between looking at the advancing Velbots and the accelerating Mystery Machine. He cringed and closed his eyes as the van lurched towards the edge of the bridge. He gave a relieved sigh when there was no sound of it crashing off the edge of the bridge. The Velbots had stopped their advance, the approaching van causing confusion in their ranks as they tried to avoid being hit. As the van crossed over the bridge most broke off their advance and began to chase after it, a few tried to walk over the bridge but were dealt with by police snipers stationed on near-by buildings.

The Mystery Machine screeched to a halt just after the alley, Fred put the van in reverse and drove into the alleyway till the van was out of sight. Daphne climbed into the back and out through the back door, Fred put the windscreen washers on and followed Daphne. "C'mon you two" said Fred as he grabbed the Shaggy and Scooby decoys and dashed out the back of the van. Daphne had managed to pull down a fire escape ladder so it would appear that they had escaped through a building. She lifted the sewer cover and climbed down then took the decoys as Fred passed them to her, he locked the back doors to the van them followed her down and quietly moved the cover back into place as he heard the sound of the Velbots trying to climb onto the Mystery Machine. They silently moved through the pipe till they came to a T junction then turned in the direction of the bridge.

In the control centre Gibby was getting distracted by events. Things were not progressing as predicted. Hundreds of hours of computer simulation had been used to plan out the operation and at first things had gone to plan. But as time dragged on the advance of the Velbots was loosing momentum, it was almost as if they were loosing the will to follow the plan. "Must be a memory leak some where" muttered Gibby "or a buffer overflow..." Gibby walked over to a large monitor in Velma's field of vision and called up a map of Coolsville. The map showed an approximately triangular wedge coming from the south-east heading to the heart of the city. He zoomed in to the tip of their advance "Velbot 12, order some of the reserves here, we need to cross that bridge soon. Once we have the police HQ our job will be easier." Velma studied the map _the police HQ, that makes sense... oh no, that's near the children's hospital I have to think, what else was near the hospital on their side of the river...oh yes one of Fred's favourite places. _ The next update was due to take place soon she mustered her thoughts for the most important daydream of her life.

The antics of the Mystery Machine had brought about 20 minutes of quiet at the bridge. The time had been usefully employed, the barricade had been strengthened, key workers had been able to make it over the bridge, some medics had gone over to the other side to provide medical cover for the part of the city nominally controlled by the Velbots. But eventually the Velbots began to return and form up for another attempt to cross the bridge. Along the barricade fire crews had arrayed themselves, high pressure hoses trained at head height of the Velbots.

_This is Arif Hussain with a Coolsville live news update. We have reports that a police helicopter has found the Mystery Machine, it has been surrounded by those robots and being taken apart, a number of those things appear to be down but there are no signs of any of the occupants... _

Clang! The lid of a sewer cover near the reporter was pushed open and Fred stuck his head through the hole. Immediately police officers surrounded the hole and helped them out.

_They made it back, Mystery Inc managed to lure them away giving the defenders here vital time to strengthen their position. As we speak Fred Jones and Daphne Blake have been given fire axes are taking their position with other defenders on the bridge. Shaggy Rogers, Miss Dinkley's fiancée, and Scooby Doo are being taken to a place of safety by police. We understand that he wanted to stay but is being taken away for his own safety…_

"Here they come again, everyone get ready!" shouted the officer in charge. Fred and Daphne exchanged glances, and checked the grip of their axes. Could they bring themselves to decapitate something that looked and sounded exactly like Velma. Intellectually they knew these were just automaton, but emotionally the thought sickened them. This time the Velbots advanced at a fast walking pace. "Wait for it!" said the officer in charge. When the Velbots were only a few yards away from the barricade "Now chief!"

"Open hoses!" shouted the fire officer. Simultaneously every fire hose was turned on sending Velbots tumbling this way and that, many shorting out where they stood from the water sprayed on them. The surviving Velbots retreated many dragging their fallen comrades behind them. Any elation the defenders felt soon evaporated when tree more trucks arrived and dropped off their cargo of Velbots, these new arrival took their place amongst the others as they formed up in columns. For some reason they were all facing away from the hospital.

"Looks like they are mustering for another attack sir" said one officer observing the activity on the opposite bank "There's even more of them now" This time the advance was a bit slower as they all walked backwards to minimise the effect of the water from the fire hoses. Part way over the bridge they all paused for a few seconds.

"They've stopped again" said one of the police officers near Daphne

"What do you mean again?" asked Daphne

"Every so often they just stop for a few seconds then carry on, it's like they are getting orders from somewhere"

The conversation was broken as the first couple of rows of Velbots spun round and began to sprint for the barricade.

"Jinkies, hospital!"cried out of the Velbots nad stopping dead in its tracks, others began to notice the hospital and also stopped. From behind them there was the sound of some sort of commotion, there were shouts and cheers. Something had else had obviously caught their attention and many of the Velbots began to head off towards a large warehouse like structure. Those closes to the hospital walked slowly towards the barricade but made no attempt to breach it or offer any further resistance but just stood there.

"What was that all about" whispered Fred

"Dunno Fred, but I think Velma had something to do with it"

"How?"

"Beats me but that has Velma written all over it."

A few blocks away was the Mayor's office, he was in the middle of a conference with city officials when an aide ran in.

"Good news mayor, they have pulled away from the children's hospital."

"What are they doing now?"

"Some have taken over the nearby home improvements store and seem to be no longer be under any form of central control."

"That's not good news, there are many things there that could be used as weapons, what of the people who where there?"

"Unharmed aside from being painted orange, as I said the Velbots are not being controlled any more, they are busy painting the entire store, and everything in it orange. Professor Ostwald says they are receiving some kind of updates that are affecting their behaviour; he thinks that somehow Miss Dinkley is affecting what is being sent to the Velbots to make them less dangerous."

"How?"

"We don't know sir, but it's buying us time. The first combat units from the National Guard will be here with a few hours..."

"What about a rescue mission? We can't just sit here and do nothing, I mean she's found a way to help us, we have to help her."

"The FBI are getting a hostage rescue team assembled but we have a home-grown one way at the moment sir. Well, sort of, it's her fiancée and their dog."

The mayor stared out of the window, the expression on his face said it all.


	6. Shaggy and Scooby do SpecOps

Shaggy was torn between driving as fast as the pick-up would go and driving slowly to guarantee he was safe. The roads were virtually empty, he'd seen a number of the big trucks heading in each direction, obviously shuttling back and forth between the factory and town. Before he had left Coolsville the police had fitted a different set of number plates to the truck as well as providing him with some equipment such as a taser and a police radio. Rationally he knew he should wait for the FBI hostage rescue team to go and get Velma but over the years the gang had developed a 'leave no-one behind' mentality which had served them well in the past. As far as the outside world was concerned he and Scooby were now safe with Velma's family and he had to hope that Gibby thought so too. As for what they would actually do when he and Soccby arrived there he hadn't thought that far ahead.

In the control centre Gibby had pulled up a chair and sat next to Velma as they watched news reports of the goings on in Coolsville. He had once attempted to hold her hand but she had almost broken his fingers so he had taken the hint and not tried again. As the updates came in it was clear that the fight for Coolsville was not going well. The Velbot advance had been all but halted and they were now beginning to behave erratically. At the news that Shaggy and Scooby were being taken to a place of safety Velma closed her eyes and gave a relieved sigh. Her rescue was no job for them, it was too dangerous. Knowing that they were safe was a real weight off her mind and she could now focus her full attention on disrupting Gibbys plans.

…_while earlier the State Governor had authorised the deployment of National Guard units to Coolsville. In news from Washington the FBI announced that Gibson 'Gibby' Norton was now top of the its 'most wanted' list…_

Gibby muted the sound "But why?" asked Gibby in disbelief "I'm no villain, I'm a hero"

"Because you idiot!" Velma screamed in pain as he pressed the green button "Because you idiot kidnapping is a Federal offence. I'm no lawyer but I'd hazard a guess that attacking Coolsville is being considered raising war against the US. Did you factor having to deal with the army in your little plan?"

Gibby gripped his hair and yelled in despair, why was everything going so wrong? Why was Velma resisting like this? And what on earth was going wrong with the Velbots? He despaired at one news report that some of them had started carrying injured people to hospital then shutting down; he'd never programmed them to do that. He turned to Velma, his hands opened in supplication.

"But all this was for you, I love you Velma"  
"You love yourself; you have never actually loved me. Obsessed, infatuated maybe, but never loved. When I was in hospital and then recovering you never even sent me a get well card. All we got were whining letters complaining how selfish I was for not attending the robotics fairs you were at."

"You were never that ill…"

"I nearly died!" she shouted, so loudly and angrily that Gibby almost fell off his chair "My heart stopped twice in the helicopter taking me to hospital, they had to breath for me" she swallowed "I was so close to having emergency neurosurgery. The attack was so bad that I ended up with permanent brain damage. The only reason I'm 'normal' and not in some secure unit is because of the care and attention of my friends, and one friend in particular…" she paused for effect "Shaggy"

Gibby pressed the negative reinforcement button, Velma tensed with pain but made no sound "Don't say that name!" he shouted

"Norville Shaggy Rogers!" she shouted back "And as soon I can get out of here I will be known as Velma Rogers!"

"STOP IT!" he screamed covering his ears

"Shaggy was there day-in day-out when I was ill. He stood by me during my recovery when all you could do was whine and complain. Just look at my medical records."

"We'll see about that Velma, what hospital was it?" Gibby walked over to a computer terminal and began to type

"State University Hospital"

"Where were you admitted?"

"Their trauma unit, then neurosurgery ICU then a regular neurosurgery ward. Finally I was a out-patient in neurosurgery and..." Velma paused, the humiliation of what she was about to admit was almost too much for her "...and psychiatry"

A short while later Gibby had accessed the hospitals records, he was reading through her discharge summary when a statement caught his eye … _Her partner, Mr Rogers has been very supportive and much of her rapid recovery can be attributed to his care and attention. Miss__ Dinkley herself has developed a number of coping strategies which help her successfully manager her condition without medication. The clinical psychiatry team believe it is still possible that __extreme psychological trauma may trigger another psychotic episode so she keeps a supply of medicine at home and her partner keeps some with him in case these strategies fail..._

Gibby snorted in derision, how he despised them for feeding Velma such a pack of lies, he would soon get to the truth and when he did then this would prove to her that he was right. He began to dig deeper to find the evidence that this was all a fabrication.

Half an hour later he had to admit to himself that he had found nothing amiss, audit trails, date-time stamps, trauma records, clinical records, brain scans – everything was consistent with Velma actually having been admitted to hospital. He'd even been able to cross-reference the police records and then the court report of the case. Everything appeared to correct, it all fitted together. There was one sure way to find out for sure.

"Velbots 32, 33, 88 and 111 take Velma to the sleep reprogramming room and run a full set of brain scans"

"Re-reprogramming? Gibby no! Please no! I'm not some robot"

The Velbots freed Velma and began to drag her out of the room "Please Gibby No, don't do this to me" she screamed and fought the Velbots every inch of the way

Gibby's shoulders sagged, perhaps he should have put that differently "Nothing will happen to you Velma, I just want some MRI scans"

Two clown Velbots ran over, but to Gibby's surprise drew their nightsticks and began attacking the Velbots pulling Velma. Gibby held his head in his hands as 32 fell to the floor in amidst a shower of sparks "Velbots keep Velma here Velbot 15 bring the portable MRI machine in."

Shaggy checked the GPS, they were now only a few miles away from the factory

"Raggy rook, recked rolice rar!" Scooby pointed to a beat-up police cruiser by the side of the road. Shaggy carefully looked around for Velbots, there were none in sight so he pulled over to check to see what was going on. As he approached he could see the doors were opened and someone was lying on the back seat. His eyes opened wide in surprise when he recognised who it was.

"Officer Sams! Like are you OK man?"whispered Shaggy

A growl caused Shaggy to pause, lying in the floor next to Sams was a police dog, a German Shepherd. The police dog stopped growling when it saw Scooby and the two dogs eyed each other up.

"Better for seeing you Mr Rogers, it's alright Mandy, they are friends" he replied putting his hand on the dog's head "I think I know where Velma is, she's a building next to a factory a couple of miles up the road" Shaggy helped the officer sit up and Shaggy knelt next to the car, Mandy got out and she and Scooby began to circle each other.

"That's what we think as well. What happened to you?"

"We were attacked by a couple of Velbots, but something is happening to them, their heart wasn't really in it, they are getting less violent and more... well like Velma. How are things in town?"

"The same thing is happening there. Many have shut themselves down after carrying people to hospital by all accounts. Some are like painting the place orange, literally painting the place orange."

"I thought they'd send the FBI or a SWAT team team to get Velma, are you going alone?"

"They will Sams but, but we look after each other, we've always gone to help, well mostly Daphne but this time... I can't just sit and do nothing, I rather be scared and trying to rescue Velma than scared and be doing nothing."

"Nothing wrong in being scared Mr Rogers" just then Shaggy's radio came to life, he dashed back to the truck to get the message then ran back.

"Zoinks, they're going to bomb the site in under an hour!" Shaggy repeated the message he had received.

"Just the radio control tower, I guess right after that the FBI team will hit the place"

"Man I've gotta get going, I'm not taking the chance of Velma getting hurt"

"Good luck Mr Rogers, but I think you should take some equipment with you and Mandy, she's a specialist as this kind of job."

A short while later Shaggy pulled up near the factory and they slowly made their way there using what little cover there was. There seemed to be little activity around the building, he and the dogs carefully worked their way around the building, everything was quite except for the back of the factory which was bristling with activity, a couple of shipments of damaged Velbots were being offloaded and another load of Velbots were waiting to board the trucks.

"Like, lets not go in that way" he whispered as they all crept back the way they came "Looks like the only way in is through reception." Shaggy paused and thought for a second "Mandy, can you check to see if reception is empty?" Mandy looked from Scooby to Shaggy and back again, Scooby translated the request and Mandy trotted off and returned a few seconds later and spoke to Scooby

"Reception roccupied, rone rorot Relma"

"OK, this is the plan, Mandy if this Velbot is like the real Velma she'll love dogs, can you distract her, I mean it, for a while so me and Scoob can sneak in?"

Scooby and Mandy spent some time in discussion the Scooby spoke up

"Rafter rat re rit-up"

"Split up?" Shaggy couldn't believe his ears

"Rou ret relma, re and Randy ro rabotage"

"So I go for Velma and you two do some sabotage to distract Gibby, I see. Well as we are running out of time and this is the only plan we have then let's do it. Like just don't tell Fred that you talked me into it. And don't go looking for any clues if you know what I mean"

"Raggy! Really"

When they were ready Mandy limped in through the reception door and headed towards the desk. The Velbot on reception got up and headed to her

"Jinkies, what happened to you?" the Velbot got down on both knees and began to check Mandy over "It doesn't look that bad. Oh you are a beautiful dog, oh yes you are" and began to scratch Mandy behind the ear and generally began to fuss over her. Shaggy and Scooby just wanted to scream, the Velbot sounded, and now acted just like their Velma, steeling themselves they slipped through reception and carefully walked though the only set of doors and into an empty corridor.

Gibby compared the results of the last hospital MRI scan with the one he had just obtained, Velma had been telling the truth, there was clear signs of brain injury which matched with the hospital records; either this was a much bigger conspiracy than he thought or... Gibby sat back in his chair and looked at Velma; Velma thought she saw a flicker of sanity in his face. _Time to clutch at straws_ she thought. She spoke gently this time

"Gibby, it's time to stop this. Once the National Guard get to Coolsville in force it's over. It would be better if you released me, shut-down the Velbots and handed yourself over to the authorities. I'll even speak to them and tell them that you surrendered of your own free will, just end this now Gibby, while there is still time."

"But… but… all this was for you… I love you Velma"

Velma shook her head "Gibby I've explained this before, you are obsessed and infatuated with me, but that's not love. What you have done today it nothing like love. If you did love me you would accept the fact that I don't love you."

The flicker of sanity vanished "I do love you and you DO love me" he shouted as he stomped towards her and raised his hand to struck her round the face, Velma clenched her fists. They both froze when there came an announcement from the loudspeaker.

_Attention, intruders detected in main building, intruders identified as Norville Rogers, Scooby Doo and one other unidentified canine. _

"All Velbots stop him!" shouted Gibby, immediately all the Velbots headed out of the room

Velma took the initiative and jabbed her fingers into the back of the necks of the nearest her Velbots switching them off and headed for the door hoping to blend in with her robotic sisters. Gibby turned round to find Velma gone, in panic his eyes darted around the room, he caught a sight of her just by the door

"Seal the room" shouted Gibby. All the doors in the room slid shut

"All Velbots in here, secure Velma back in her chair"

After a brief struggle Velma was dragged back to the chair and secured in place. Gibby then shut down the few Velbots in the room.

_Begin collecting personality data _said the loudspeaker

"I HATE YOU!" she screamed in his face. "Why won't that get through that thick skull of yours? I despise you; you nearly killed Fred a few years ago with that ridiculous robotic worm, you have robots attack us in a wild-west theme park and you cause us to have a nasty crash when you interfered with the Mystery Machines brakes. I don't know what that is but it isn't love. I may have brain damage, but at least I'm not mad like you."

Gibby was angry, it was clear that Velma was not responding to treatment, indeed she was actively fighting against it. It was also cleat that she was not perfect as he had been lead to believe. She had lied to him; perhaps she had got herself deliberately hurt to spite him. But he might still be able to save her.

"This is for your own good Velma." He said taking the 9mm police pistolout of a desk drawer "For the last time will you submit to my treatment programme? Please, I want to save you"

"I will _never_ submit to you in anything. The only person I will submit to is Shaggy as he will submit to me"

Gibby loaded the pistol, Velma locked eyes with him "You have lost Norton" she said as he began to bring the weapon up to point at her.

"Drop it!"

Velma and Gibby's head spun round to see Shaggy standing next to an open panel in the wall, pointing a taser at Gibby, he slowly walked towards him

"Drop it now or so help me I'll shoot you Gibby." though his voice was shaking, Gibby could tell from the look on his face that he was telling the truth.

Gibby wheeled round but Shaggy got off the first shot, Gibby fell to the ground crying out in pain, trying to reach for where the barbs had hit him. Shaggy raced to where Velma was but before he could get there Gibby roared in rage and still lying on the floor he raised his gun and shot Shaggy twice in the back. Shaggy landed with a grunt on the floor his momentum making him slide a short way, a smear of blood marked his journey. Gibby walked over and turned Shaggy over onto his back. He looked down at the man he hated most in the world. Velma stared, transfixed in horror as Gibby stood over Shaggy and at point blank range fired another round into the centre of his chest. Velma's face flushed red with rage.

"Shaggy!" she screamed

_End collecting personality data… processing update… sending update_

Too late Gibby realised what had happened, he looked up and saw Velma's expression, he looked at Shaggy's body lying sprawled on the floor and finally looked at the gun in his hand.

"I, I'm sorry Velma, I, I didn't mean to shoot. I don't know what came over me" Gibby looked pale and ill but Velma didn't notice it.

All of a sudden every Velbot stopped in their tracks and remained motionless. In Coolville the defenders of the city paused waiting to see what would happen. They peered out from behind the barricades, office windows and wherever else they had found themselves. They gripped their weapons tighter awaiting what would happen next. They thought they had won, they thought she had won. Doubt began to replace hope.

In unison the Velbots screamed out Shaggy's name. A thousand voices untied in a cry of unspeakable anguish and despair that tore at the hearts of all who heard. Those who heard it understood it meant just one thing it announced the death of everything Velma held dear in this world. It announced the death of Shaggy.


	7. Psycho killer, qu'est que c'est?

Daphne collapsed to her knees in tears, she clutched her stomach and rocked back and forth and looked up. The expression on the Velbots matched the pain she felt...

Fred stared around, he felt hollow inside and just sat down where he was. He tried to find the words to bid his friend farewell...

Velma sat motionless in her chair, she could feel the onrush of a massive panic attack, she couldn't be bothered to fight it, she embraced it. At least she would be out of it when she died...

The expression on the Velbots changed, Daphne recoiled in fear, her grief forgotten. She knew what the face of the Velbots heralded; rage, pure unadulterated rage. She had seen that expression only once before. A couple of weeks after Velma had come out of hospital Fred had accidentally defrosted some food she had made the day before. Velma had almost torn the door off the freezer then when Fred had tried to stop her she had physically picked him up and thrown him across the room before locking herself in her lab for the rest of the day overwhelmed with guilt and remorse. On that day only Shaggy had been able to get through to her. The Velbots looked around and picked up whatever weapons they could. They turned around then began to run, run out of town, all running in the same direction, towards the factory.

Back in the control centre Gibby knew it was all over, he looked at the pistol, then at Shaggy, he tried to work out if Shaggy had moved, he was going to check but was distracted by Velma in the midst of her panic attack. He looked on her with a mixture of pity and disdain, perhaps he should shoot Velma, it would be like putting down a wounded animal, then he would shoot himself. He walked towards Velma, gun in hand but stopped at the sound of Velma screaming, he looked at her but she was silent, the screaming was coming from outside the room. The screaming stopped as the pounding on the doors began. The lights went out just as a night stick smashed through the door.

_External power supply failure... generator switching … generator failure... battery back-up only_

The lights came back on but all the doors were now unlocked. Gibby turned to face the doors as they opened. Scooby and Mandy dashed in and went directly to Shaggy. Behind them was every kind of Velbot, all carrying nightsticks, all focused on Gibby, all with the same expression of rage and hate that had been on Velma's face a short while ago. One phrase from Velma's medical report came to his mind _psychotic episode;_ Gibby began to slowly walk backwards towards the emergency exit. He pointed the gun in he direction of the Velbots and licked his lips nervously. He realised every Velbot had now been turned into a single-minded psychopath. He had always wanted Velma's undivided attention, now he had it, several hindered copies of it. Gibby turned and ran for his life, the Velbots growled in anger and ran after him.

Gibby ran down the corridor, the limited emergency lighting meant he couldn't see if there were any Velbots ahead. He rounded a corner and saw the fire exit, a small chink of light visible from the bottom of the door. His insides chilled as he could make out a small figure standing in front of the door.

"Prepare to die Gibby!"

Gibby raised the pistol and fired two shots, the figure slumped to the floor, sparks shooting out from it's back. He kicked the door open and blinked at the sunlight. He heard some shouts, he squinted and saw the Velbots from the loading bay heading towards him. His car was only a few feet away, and unlocked, he leapt inside and drove off. He breathed a sigh of relief, the looked in his rear view mirror.

"Oh no" he whispered, he could see a number of the trucks pulling out of the factory and following him, he turned round and saw three trucks and a countless number of Velbots running after him. He wished for many things, that he had listened to Velma when he had had the chance, that he had not made the Velbots know where he was at any time and above all he wished that he had filled up with gas that morning.

Back in Coolsville Professor Ostwald barged his way into the mayor's office

"I have cracked the code. It's a recall message!"

"Good! No wait, great!" replied the mayor

"Not good, it says that Velma is in imminent danger of death, the controlling computer has permitted the robots to use deadly force to protect her. The last update has also, well, turned them into psychotic killing machines."

"We have no choice, give the airforce the go"

Gibby jolted forward in his seat as his car was rammed from behind by one of the trucks. He was desperately trying to think of a way out, then he remembered, there was a small river near here and the Velbots weren't fully waterproof. He just had to travel a couple of more miles to the ford. Distracted by his thoughts he didn't notice the accelerating truck until it was too late, the impact from behind caused him to loose control and skid off the road, his car slammed into a tree stump and was enveloped in a cloud of steam. Gibby stumbled out of his wrecked car and staggered in the direction of the river. He could hear the air-breaks of to the trucks as they pulled up. He glanced behind him to see them begin to disgorge their cargo. He turned around and stopped dead in his tracks, he was at the edge of a cliff, he could see the river a few hundred feet away, but between them was a 20 foot almost shear drop. He turned to run back and stopped, facing him was a wall a Velbots about 20 feet way. He drew his pistol and pointed it at the nearest Velbot

"Stay back, I command you!"

The Velbots ignored him, took a step closer and raised their weapons. Gibby began shooting, several of the Velbots fell but he knew it was the end, he pointed the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger

Click...

He pulled the trigger again

Click...

He dropped the pistol and began to scramble down the cliff, he tried to jump the last few feet but landed badly. He rolled to the ground and looked up as the first Velbots began to leap off the cliff after him and land around him. One landed next to him just as he started to get up, the impact knocked him down again. His leg exploded in pain as a Velbot landed, nightstick first, on his leg, the nightstick was sticking out of the Velbot and had impaled his leg into the ground. Other Velbots landed near him headed directly for him. The last thing he knew a Velbot was kneeing on top of him, driving the end of their night stick down towards his face as hard as they could. Dead or not, they still they headed for him, each Velbot trying to get to him to avenge Shaggy.

Back in the control room hands carefully freed Velma from her restraints and lowered gently to the ground where she immediately curled up into a tight ball. A hand bushed the hair from her face.

"Velms? Velms? Come on Scoob, Mandy, we've got what we came for. Let's get out of here quick."


	8. Till Death Do Us Part

Velma began to come round to find herself curled up tightly in a ball and being moved slowly across the floor. She was puzzled at how she got from being strapped to the chair to where she was. She could feel herself being simultaneously pulled and pushed. Then she heard a quiet voice, a voice she thought she would never hear again.

"Don't worry Velms, Gibby's gone, you're safe now. Time to go home."

"Shag! Is that you? Please tell me it's you" she pleaded as she looked around

"Well we weren't planning to wait for some strange man to rescue you, people might start gossiping" he replied sitting back in his knees and giving a weak laugh.

Scooby and Mandy stopped pulling as Velma leapt to Shaggy. They held each other as tightly as they could, afraid that if they were let go they would find that it was only a dream.

"How?" whispered,Velma, she paused she could feel something under his shirt and looked quizzically at him

"It's a bullet-proof vest. Officer Sams gave me his, like it's one of those heavy-duty vests SWAT teams wear" he smiled "he said it was one of the best on the market."

"Not that bullet proof" Velma whispered looked at the trail of blood behind him, Shaggy followed her gaze and shook his head.

"Don't worry Velms it's just a flesh wound, one of the bullets caught me in the arm."

Velma looked around the room and saw a first aid kit mounted on the wall.

"Wait right there" she said and ran to get the kit. Velma returned and quickly dressed his arm as best as she could "Come on, shirt off" and began to remove Shaggy's shirt

"Careful" he winced. They removed the bulletproof vest, the ceramic plates had shattered but had done their job, the bullets were still in the outer fibre of the jacket. The only injuries visible were a large diffuse bruise around his right shoulder blade and in the centre of his chest was a angry bruise about the size of a saucer. Velma went to gently touch the bruise but Shaggy's hand stopped her

"Too sore"

"It might have cracked a rib or two. Shaggy..." Velma stopped, fighting to keep her emotions under control "you shouldn't have come, it was too dangerous." she looked at him and embraced him again "but I knew you would." Velma reached out and pulled Scooby to her "and you too Scooby Doo. Who's your lady friend Scooby?"

"Randy, reroic rolice rog. Re rid rabotaged rike ries" Mandy stood next to Scooby and Velma scratched her behind her ears "Thank you Mandy, you are a brave dog and for looking after Scooby. So, what do we do now?"

"The FBI will be sending a hostage rescue team here but... Zoinks! We need to get out of here" he whispered "They are going to bomb this place with a... harmful radiation missile?" he said uncertainly.

Velma couldn't suppress a smile "HARM High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile. They will be going for the radio tower sending the controlling signals. Do you know where the tower is?"

"Directly above us"

Velma closed her eyes and sighed "Gibby's an idiot; he can't even site a tower in the proper place. Let's go." Velma stood up and helped Shaggy to his feet; they had to lean on each other for support as they slowly walked out of the control room, the energy that had propelled them so far began to wane. Scooby walked next to Shaggy and Mandy next to Velma to help keep them upright. Soon they were walking down a corridor, both of them focussing on just the next step.

"Your being hailed as a hero Velma, Professor Ostwald worked out that you were affecting the updates, the Velbots ended up carrying people to hospital then switching themselves off. Well apart from those that painted a few building orange, how did you do it?"

"Gibby had a machine to upload my personality to them, I just focussed on what parts I wanted to upload. Are you OK Shag?" Velma noticed that Shaggy was beginning to slow down.

"It's just sore breathing hard, can't walk too fast. Look time's running out, just get out of here Velma" she could see he was beginning to panic.

"No!" said Velma firmly "I'm not leaving you. You were there for me when I was sick and at my worst, you never left me then, I won't leave you now. That's what we're promising to do in a couple of weeks time remember? For better, for worse, in sickness and in health."

"I'd better pick up the pace then, hey there's the door to reception" They all smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as as they walked into reception and out of the front door. The world had never looked better.

"There's a police radio in our truck, we parked just over there behind that small mound."

They all sped up, they were free from that hell-hole and now wanted to get as far away as possible as fast as possible.

"I'm marrying you tomorrow if that's possible" smiled Velma "I'm not taking any more chances"

"Like, no argument from me"

"Rore rom re or randy"

"You _and_ Mandy. Quick work there Scoob old buddy" replied Shaggy winking at Scooby, Velma stifled a giggle.

"Rutup" muttered Scooby

"_Magnum!" the voice crackled over the radio_

"_Missile away sir" said the aide to the Mayor "Impact in about 10 seconds"_

"I can hear planes" said Shaggy just as they reached the mound

"That means they have gone past, let's get well under cover" they dragged themselves a few more feet behind the mound then sat down together. Shaggy took Velma's hands in his and they looked into each others eyes

"How did the ending go? Till death us do part"

"Till death us do part" Velma replied and nodded at him

"Ready Mrs Rogers?"Velma smiled, Shaggy lifted her chin and their lips met briefly.

They cringed at the impact of the missile, even though they were a distance away and had a solid bank of earth shielding them they were all slightly stunned. Velma and Shaggy lay back against the earth bank with an arm around each other, Mandy sat next to Velma, who put an arm round her. Scooby sat next to Shaggy who did like wise. Both were exhausted, Velma could hardly keep her eyes open, Shaggy's head was now resting on hers, he was snoring gently. Mandy and Scooby lay down and rested their heads on Velma and Shaggy's laps and looked at each other, they closed their eyes as the wind began to pick-up. Velma found enough energy to looked up, puzzled at the sudden wind blowing all around her, she was briefly aware of a large black shape hovering over her then she too was asleep.


	9. No Sleep Till Nap Time

It was several years later and Scooby wandered to his favourite napping spot in Shaggy and Velma's house. His mystery hunting days were pretty much over now as were theirs. The whole gang had pretty much retired from active mystery hinting business a year after their fight with the Velbots though they still did some consultancy work to keep their hand in. Coolsville itself had returned to normal fairly quickly, the only real change being the renaming of the Children's Free Hospital to the Dinkley Children's Hospital, the only honorific that Velma would accept. He didn't miss it much as he knew the biggest challenges still lay ahead, and as most people who retire found out, they were busier than ever. Scooby arrived and settled down to rest, a while later he was interrupted by some puppies, his puppies. He had decided that there was something just too attractive about a heroic lady dog in uniform to pass by and as Shaggy and Velma were settling down; then perhaps so should he also. Having settled them down he tried to get back to sleep, a short while later he was interrupted again. Looking up he saw two pairs of earnest eyes, he nodded and after they had clambered over him he finally settled down to sleep. He groaned when he was woken by approaching voices

"Where could she be? It's been ages." it was Daphne, Scooby could tell from the tone of her voice that she was worried

"Don't worry Daph, I know where she is. Same place as mine, in here" the door opened to reveal Daphne and Velma

Daphne's face lit up in delight "Oh that's soooo sweet" she whispered looking at the scene of Scooby buried under a sleeping pile of his puppies and her and Velma's children "I must get my camera. Fred! Shaggy! You must come and see this..." said Daphne dashing off. Velma didn't dash off, she didn't dash anywhere much these days; she gently stroked her belly and smiled. Scooby sighed; one more month and there would be no chance of any sleep. He couldn't wait.

(A/N What started with The Snack Strikes Back is finally finished but took a lot longer than I had expected it would . Many thanks for those who took the time to review this story; Jazzola, sawyer105, 0xRosethornx0, thebieberbabe and especially Kelly of the midnight dawn for the final incentive to get the whole thing finished.)


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